The UK must prioritise better broadband to future-proof homes around the UK or risk lagging behind, research from Cluttons suggests.

Its latest report, ‘Connecting today for tomorrow’, warns that investment in digital infrastructure must not only keep pace with current demands but also with future advances in technology, which will require ever more data.

This comes as mobile networks embark on the Great 3G Switch-Off, some of which will start this summer. Vodafone, EE, and Three will no longer offer 3G from 2024 with the aim to accelerate the UK’s transition to a 5G network.

REGULATOR

However, figures from regulator Ofcom show around 5.5 million mobile phone customers still use 2G and 3G devices.

Whilst the pace of the roll-out of gigabit-capable broadband has gathered momentum, some 30% of homes are yet to get access to this speed of connection.

Monthly broadband use in the UK has risen by 154% in five years from an average of 190gb per connection in 2017, to 482gb in 2022.

Darren Zitren, Head of Infrastructure at Cluttons, says: “Increasingly the conversation we’re having with both residential and commercial developers, landlords and owners is around how to prevent obsolescence in a building’s tech infrastructure, to prevent them from having to regularly retrofit or upgrade for long-term resilience and commercial success.

“We know, for example, wayleaves [the legal agreement which allows operators to access buildings to install or maintain their hardware] and an approved fibre route not being in place can cause an eight-to-10-week delay in business activity.”

PERFORMANCE

And John Gravett, Managing Director at Cluttons, adds: “For companies to meet net-zero targets they are going to need to be able to monitor and evidence their performance and this will have huge connectivity and capacity requirements.

“Businesses of all types need to consider future-proofing their connections, whether that is in one building or across a portfolio of real estate assets.

“In a practical sense, this will mean liaising with one or more broadband operators at each site and negotiating wayleaves.

“It will also mean non-digital experts with responsibility for property assets starting to ask questions around future-proofing strategies.”